Kidnapped
by Binary Codex Mastermind
Summary: Kai's the new kid at Ninjago Highschool in Ignacia County. What happens when he just starts school and gets kidnapped along with three other boys, one, in fact, has been bullied all his life and has major muteness? Another with muscles all over? Another with a mind with a mind of its own? What will happen next?


Kidnapped:

Ninjago: a world owned by the millionaires of the big world and purest of the people.

Five young men were lost seven years ago.

And now their kidnapper needs replacements for the next seven years.

"Kai! Why aren't you up?! Get up, big brother!" Nya's voice called to him from the door. Kai was the new kid at Ninjago Highschool in Ignacia County. He loved his home as it was now, but there were going to be plenty of new kids at the school who would be the first to get bullied. He was starting the tenth grade at the school, as were several dozen other students. Nya, his annoying little sister, was starting the ninth grade in the class just below him. It was Kai's job to tell her how things worked in highschool and show her around once he got his map and schedule. "Kai! Get up, now!" Kai's father, Kaytake, yelled up into his room. "I'm up, already!" he angrily shouted back, flipping the covers off and jumping onto the floor. He looked around the room for his clothes from yesterday. A plain red t-shirt and shorts were sitting on the beanbag chair in the corner of the room. "Same old, same old. I've got to do my laundry again. Goodbye Summer Break!" Kai muttered sarcastically as he pulled on his shirt and pants. He felt up to his head, covered with a thick layer of spiked-in-all-directions brown hair, to find the one spot he kept visible on his neck. "Kai Flames Smith! Get down here this instant!" Lilith, Kai's mother, called in her sharpest voice. "Coming!" he called back, throwing open the door and running down the stairs in his tennis shoes, painted red. His family was at the breakfast table with the pancakes and the waffles and syrup and butter. Kai's mouth watered. Waffles…..the best thing that he could ever eat was a waffle. Of course, he started to love them frozen, too. "Good, choose something before you're out the door this time." Kaytake said, holding the newspaper in his face while stuffing a pancake into his mouth. "Remember tonight, okay, Kai? I've got a dance performance at the Ballet Music Hall. Be sure to get home before then." Nya said, stuffing a waffle into her mouth. Kai sat down and grabbed three waffles, wolfing them down in five minutes flat. He grabbed his packed lunch and threw it into his backpack, throwing his backpack over his right shoulder and racing out the door to the bus just as it pulled up to the driveway. He jumped up the steps and smacked himself into the nearest empty seat, next to a muscular student with a large black t-shirt and muscles as big as the moon (just as a figure of speech). The student looked over at Kai with his big brown eyes, smiling slightly. "Hi, I'm Kai Smith, one of the new kids. Who are you?" Kai said, gesturing to himself. "I'm Cole, Cole Hence. I ride this bus in the morning and the afternoon. I live down the street a few blocks from here. I have a few friends that ride this bus, too. Want to meet them?" Cole asked in his deep, calming voice. "Yeah, sure." Kai said back, smiling as Cole looked over the seat and pointed at the two boys sitting at the front of the bus. "Hey, Jay! Can you come back here?" he called up to the front of the bus. "Yeah! I'll come back when the bus stops!" a voice called back. A younger man came around the side of a seat and came back to them, sitting beside Cole. "Hi! I'm Jay Walker. Zane isn't here right now, but you can meet him when we get to the school. So, who are you?" Jay asked. "I'm Kai Smith. It's nice to meet you, Jay." Kai said, smiling. "Did you hear about the kids that went missing seven years ago?" Jay asked, his eyes growing wide when Kai shook his head. "No. I just moved in. What kids?" Kai asked. "There were five kids that went missing, just vanished, and they just found the bodies last night. All skin and flesh, like they were kept fresh. But one had a scar above his eye, another had an organ missing, another had been missing both his eyes, one had some kind of tail sewed onto his butt, another had a hand taken off and replaced with a bear claw, and the last had a fox ear sewed onto his head where his ears had been cut off. Creepy, huh?" Jay offered, Kai shivering at the thought of mutilated bodies floating down a river. The rest of the ride to the school was quiet and slightly noisy with Jay blabbering the whole time about random facts. "I'll take you to the office. The principal is an old guy but he's very nice. If you have any problems, you go talk to him and he'll make sure they're dealt with." Cole said, shoeing Jay down the hall. "See you later!" Jay called with his red hair poking him in the eye. Cole opened the door and spoke to a woman at another desk. "He's in there, right now. Go on in, Mr. Hence." the woman said, pointing to a wooden door. "Come here, Kai!" Cole called, opening the door and stepping inside. An old man was sitting at the desk holding a cup of coffee. "Ah, Mr. Smith. You're here for your schedule and map, correct?" Mr. Wu said. "Yes, sir." Kai said back with a warm smile. "Good. Your first block starts in ten minutes in hall four." Wu said, pulling a map and a piece of paper out of his desk drawer, handing it to Kai. "I'll show you to your first class, Kai. Hey! That's my class, too! Writing with Mrs. Bartow!" Cole exclaimed, obviously excited as Kai felt. "Go to your class boys! Come to me for any of your problems." Wu said as Cole grabbed Kai's wrist and pulled him out of the room. They ran down the hall to the seventh door on the right. "This is Mrs. Bartow's classroom. You can sit next to me." Cole said as he pushed open the door and went to the seat in the far back. He patted the desk next to him, smiling. Kai went and sat next to him, smiling as a younger teacher came into the room. "Good morning, class. I am Mrs. Bartow. But you can call me Mrs. B if you'd like. This is Writing with Story Likes. Now, if you want to keep these seats, I'd suggest that you stay in them during the year. I will take note of your stations and your seats will be posted each day on the back of the door. Now, for some attendance…" Mrs. Bartow said, turning towards her desk and grabbing a clipboard. "My! What a lot of students!" she said, smiling up at the fifty kids sitting at the desks. "Sakoya Arcsin, Samuel Lots, Phelix Ulf Kjellberg, blah, blah, blah…...Kai Smith." Mrs. Bartow said. "Here!" Kai called from his seat in the back row. Mrs. Bartow finished the roll call and turned to the board. "Alright. Will all the new students come to the front, please?" she announced. Kai stood and came to the front, standing beside five other students. "And what are your names?" she asked. "Michael Jordan." a boy at the end said. "Sumi Kirigami." a girl said. "Jon Sum." a boy said. "Carly Rae." a girl said. "Cartman Ford." a boy said. "And what is your name, young man?" Mrs. Bartow asked. "Kai Smith." Kai said quietly, his face blushing slightly. "Isn't your father that old blacksmith from Jamaikai?" a boy asked at one of the front desks. "Yeah, why?" Kai asked back, his fear fading. "Can you ask him to make me a sword? Just for my room?" the boy asked, all the kids gasping with amusement. "Yeah. I can ask him if he still has the stuff. Give me the design and he'll make it." Kai said, smiling proudly. "Thank you. You may now return to your seats." Mrs. Bartow said with a proud smile. Class ended quicker than Kai expected, allowing him to go for a bathroom break. He walked into the bathroom, spotting a pair of legs under one of the stalls. "Hello? Are you okay?" Kai asked. The legs didn't move, but the stall slightly opened to reveal a body with its head in the toilet, bent awkwardly beside it. The body's skin was a tinted blue, and the head seemed to be locked under a board that had been screwed into the toilet's surface. "Oh, god! Principal Wu! Principal Wu!" Kai called down the hall as he ran. "What is it?" Wu asked in his warm voice. "There's a kid in the boy's bathroom and his head's in the toilet and its screwed under a board! I don't think he's breathing!" Kai exclaimed, his sweat trickling down his face. "Show me. Pixel, call for an ambulance. Meet me at that bathroom." Wu said quickly, following Kai down the hall to the bathroom. Several kids were standing in the hall, watching the commotion with wide eyes. Suddenly, a girl screamed, running out of the bathroom and flailing her arms like a witch. Wu raced into the bathroom, throwing open the stall and staring in disbelief at the young man with a board over his head. "Where is the kid? Where is the person in need of help? I've got a screwdriver!" a man's voice called outside the door. "In here! In here!" Kai called desperately. The man came in, threw open the stall and began unscrewing all the screws, throwing the board aside. "Get a stretcher ready!" the man called to a few others down the hallway. They raced back down and threw open the ambulance doors, readying the stretcher. The man came running down the hall with the boy, his head now visible. "Zane!" Cole yelled, falling into a line behind the rescuer. Kai and Jay jumped behind him, following the officer out to the van and desperately trying to get into the van with him. "Only one goes with him! One at a time! He needs to get to the hospital at once!" the other officers shouted as some of them placed a breathing mask over Zane's face. Just as the van began to pull away, Cole jumped on the back and held on as tight as he could, clawing at the hard surface. "Hey!" the officer shouted as he noticed Cole on the back of the vehicle as it flew down the street. "Cole! Get off of it! You can meet him at the hospital!" Jay shouted, his voice high and shrill. "Whoever did this is in serious trouble! When I find out who did this, they will be put in high detention and possibly kicked out of school with a call to their guardians!" Wu shouted, his warmness gone. Several boys snickered in the corner, trying to mask their laughs by covering their mouths. Wu eyes turned towards them and pointed accusingly. "If I find out you did this, Johnston Cleverend, you'll be the one in the hospital next." Wu growled, turning towards his office and slamming the door behind him. "Children! Please return to your classrooms to continue your lessons." Mrs. Bartow said as she came out of her classroom and stood in front of the students. She turned to Kai and Jay, separated from the crowd, and spoke softly. "If you two want to go see him, I'll take you in my car to Ninjago Hospital after school. Just go to the office and ask Mrs. Pixel to call your parents with the news." she whispered, walking past and into another classroom. The rest of the school day ended quickly, allowing Jay and Kai to get back to Mrs. Bartow faster. "Alright, I drive a minivan out back. Follow me." she said, her voice clearly worried for the two boys at the hospital. She ran as fast as she could out the doors, racing around back to a white minivan sitting in the end of the parking lot. She threw open the doors and shoved Kai and Jay inside, jumping into the driver's seat herself. She revved up the car and sped off West, towards the largest building in Ignacia. She stopped at the end of the lot, shoved the boys out and went to look for a parking space. "Go on in, I'll meet you there." she said, speeding off. The boys ran in, stopping at the small desk for a peek. "We need to know which room Cole Hence and Zane Julien are in, please." Jay said as breathlessly as he could. "Let me see….they are in Room 411, second floor. I believe that they are still trying to revive Zane Julien." the woman said, pointing to the stairs. Kai followed Jay hot on his heels up the stairs and to the last room on the left. Cole was sitting outside, his face wet and pale. "Cole! Where's Zane? Is he awake yet?" Jay called as he continued to run. Cole looked up and smiled. "He's-he's dying. If they can't get his lungs clear before he turns black, he'll be dead. Look through the window." he said. Kai stopped running and looked through the large glass window beside Cole's chair. Zane's feet had already begun to turn black, his skin still bluing to the point where it looked like water. A woman looked over at them from inside the room and went towards the door. "Is he going to be alright, doc?" Jay asked, his face growing pale. "He-he is dead. We've been using the defibrillator to get his heart back up, but he isn't responding. I'm so sorry." the woman said, frowning. Suddenly, a man came running down the hall dressed in a lab coat with tears all over his face. "Where is he? Where is my Zane? Where is my son?" he shouted, running in circles around the hall. "He's down here! Dr. Julien!" Cole called back, jumping up and down. The older man ran down the hall towards them, slamming into the door. The woman looked at his stubbornly, her face turning even more of a shade of red. "He's gone, Dr. Julien." the woman said. "No, no, no!" the old man screamed, throwing open the door and pushing through the mess of doctors to the table where Zane lie. "Sir, you have to leave." a doctor said, grabbing Dr. Julien's arm. Kai turned to Cole and whispered, "So, that's Zane's dad?", Cole nodding back. "He's one of the most famous inventors of his time. Zane was lucky to have a father like him." Cole said. "Yeah, was." Jay chimed in, a tear falling down his cheek. "I wish I could feel your pain, guys. I wanted to get to meet him. Is there anything else you want to tell me about him?" Kai asked, sitting down on the bench beside the door. "He was mute. And he has a disease that keeps the body from getting the proper nutrition from food. So, he could eat everything and not gain any weight from it. He was a very polite kid, lots of manners and he never got into trouble." Cole said, Kai placing his hand on his shoulder. "Zane, do you hear me? You have to wake up! You have to wake up, my son! Wake up!" Dr. Julien shouted over and over again as loud as he could. "Whoever did this is going to pay so hard that I'm going to rip off their head and throw it in the sea!" Cole shouted, holding his face in his hands. Dr. Julien placed his hand on Zane's chest, his tears beginning to come out. A sudden pop of Zane's ribs caused a fountain of water to erupt from his mouth, leaving him gasping for breath. "Get me that trachea tube, now!" the primary doctor shouted, grabbing the sides of Zane's head to hold him straight. Zane was furiously grabbing for something, anything that he could hold on to. He managed to get a hold on the doctor's uniform, holding tight until the doctor himself pulled his hand away to continue working. "He-he's alive!" Cole cried, jumping up into the air. Jay and Cole high-fived several times, jumping up and down as Zane held on to the tube to keep it straight in his throat. They continued to celebrate even after the doctors had removed Zane from the room and placed him in an emergency bed for overnight speculating, finally realizing after two hours. They went into Zane's curtained room, walking in just as he was trying to get dressed in another gown, this one white. He quickly covered himself up, waving the boys out of the room. Cole was blushing a bright red in his cheeks, Jay smiling. "Oops, I guess." Jay said, smiling mischievously wider. "What so great about seeing another guy's parts?" Kai asked, his voice stern. "Zane, uh, doesn't have parts." Jay whispered, breaking into a laugh. "What?" Kai asked, his face full of confusion just as Zane opened the door and invited them inside. "So, how do you feel, Zane? No breathing problems? No other things?" Cole asked as soon as he sat down. Zane grabbed a notepad and a pen and began to write. It said:

I am fine. I missed you, though. I want to know who saved me. Please, tell me if you can. Beside the point, you didn't see that, did you?

"Um, no." the three boys said together. Zane smiled, Kai's eyes settling on Zane's icy blue irises with a tinge of teal around the edges. Zane blushed, looking away quicker than a fox could run as Kai smiled happily.

Who is this young man with you? Was he present when I was rescued?

"Yes, he was there. In fact, he's the one that saved you. He saw you and ran to Wu who called the police. He is so mad at this confrontation. He said he's going to do a lot of stuff to the culprit when he fesses up. His name is Kai Smith. What happened anyway?" Cole asked.

I was attacked while using the restroom. The people, three that is, attacked me wearing hoods, all black. They grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me against the stall door. Then, another appeared holding a board and a power drill. At first, I thought they were going to kill me, but they only screwed my head under the board into the toilet. I tried to free myself several times, yet I couldn't get my breath enough. I fainted, and I saw something come towards me while I was in a type of dream world. It was large, and white. I wanted to touch it, as if it was something that was familiar to me. Then, I felt Wu's hands touch my back as he and another man pulled me from the lid. I couldn't move, yet I could hear. Thank you, Kai Smith. I owe you my life.

"You don't owe me anything. It is just nice to meet you, Zane. I would like it if we could be friends." Kai said, smiling as Zane did.

Could you go and fetch my father? I would like to change clothes and get ready to go home, now, please.

"Yeah. I'll get him. I think he was getting a coffee from downstairs. Do any of you guys want one?" Jay asked in his sweet voice. "No." Kai said, watching as Zane shook his head. "Kai, could you come with me?" Jay asked, looking towards Kai with his puppy-blue eyes. "Oh,

alright." Kai said, standing up and leaving the room. The two went downstairs and out a door, coming to a stop beside a coffee machine. Dr. Julien was quickly fixing himself a cup when Jay tapped his shoulder. "Hello, Dr. Julien. Zane wants to go home now. He's coming down to meet you. Cole's with him right now." Jay said as Dr. Julien turned to face him. "Thank you, young Walker. I'll be waiting when he comes down. In fact, I'll sign him out now." the old man said, turning towards a desk with a binder atop it. Zane came walking down the stairs to meet them, Cole close behind. When Zane got close enough to touch, he shoved out his arms and hugged his father. "Yes, I did miss you too. Are you ready to leave?" Dr. Julien asked, Zane nodding. The four left the hospital and went home, or so their families thought. Kai was walking home when he was suddenly hit on the back of the head with something hard. He fell onto the sidewalk, his eyes rolling into his head.

A FEW DAYS LATER:

Kai opened his eyes, his vision fogging in and out. He looked to his left and saw Cole, Jay and Zane next to him, all with chains holding their wrists and ankles together. Kai looked up at his own chains, giving them a yank for a test. Strong as steel. He looked over at Cole and saw him start to move. He looked up at Kai, his eyes rolling around his face. Jay started to move, too, but Zane lay still as stone. Jay gave him a little kick in the stomach, sending him hurtling forward, his eyes shooting open. He jerked forward slightly, shaking his head. "What happened?" Jay asked, daring to speak. Kai looked around, seeing a large window on the side of the small room full of darkness. He managed to spot a little table, human-sized, and a smaller plate of animal body parts. "I think we're in an attic of some sort." Kai said, looking up at Jay's shivering face. "An attic? No, this is that one crazy guy's attic. The guy that sewed the creepy body parts onto those kids! He's got us! We need to get out of here!" Jay cried, wiggling back and forth, frantic for a way out. Cole pulled on his chains just as a small door opened in the floor. Footsteps could be heard coming up the small door, an attic door maybe?, and a man's face could be seen from the light of the window. He walked right up the steps and smiled, his teeth rotted away as he turned and looked at the body parts on the plate. "Which one first? Hm. Maybe you? Maybe him? Only time will tell." the man said, his voice creaky and slow. "Who are you? Why are you doing this? Does this make you happy, hurting people?" Cole growled. "My name is Garmadon. I do this because it makes me happy. And everyone wants to feel happy for a while, don't they?" Garmadon said. Cole growled as Garmadon came closer, grabbing his chin. "You look like you could use a little extra animal, hm? Maybe to kill everyone you've ever loved? Maybe to keep yourself alive?" Garmadon guessed, making Cole flinch awkwardly. He let go and went into the darkness, pulling forth another plate, but with four different elements on it: rocks, ice cubes, a taser, and a branding iron. Garmadon looked over the four things and grabbed the rocks. "A little rock for the strength in your heart, hm? How about a little strength too?" Garmadon asked, slamming the rocks against Cole's face and hands. "Stop! Ow! Stop, please!" Cole cried as blood spurted from his nose and mouth. The battering wouldn't stop, the older man just kept going with his beating. Cole finally fell forward and collapsed, coughing blood at every breath. "Good enough. Ugh, I've got to wash my hands. I'll be right back." Garmadon said, walking towards the door in the floor. Zane look horrified at Cole appearance, his hands and head shaking. As Garmadon returned, he brought up an old washtub and began pouring ice into it. When he finished, he turned to Zane and smiled. "You look a little too warm. Why don't you come and cool off for a bit, hm?" Garmadon smirked, walking over to Zane's blushing face. He wrapped his arms around Zane's waist, pulling him up and towards the ice-bath. "It won't be too warm, I hope. Just soak in here for a while and you'll feel much better." Garmadon smiled, pulling Zane to the far side of the tub. And, surprisingly, he gently lowered Zane backwards into the tub, strapping him in. At the touch of the cold, Zane began to struggle, the cold water consuming his body. Jay jolted at the sound of Zane's freezing struggles, grabbing Garmadon's smiling attention. "Oh, are you scared? Perhaps a little jolt of sparks will do for that." the evil man said, grabbing the taser off the table and jamming it into Jay's stomach. Jay's hair lit up with electricity, his eyes enlarging due to the pain caused by the sparks in his gut. Garmadon held the taser there for another few minutes, finally coming to a rest with a sickening smile. He dropped the taser to the ground, kicking it farther away for fun. "Like that?" he snarled at Jay's face, sparking and pain-twisted. "S-stop." Jay said, his voice charred with smoke. Garmadon finally turned towards Kai and lifted the branding iron up to the light. Kai jerked awkwardly, his eyes glued to the iron. Garmadon heated the iron up and gently put it against Kai's skin. Kai screamed in agony. "Stop! Stop it! It burns!" he shouted, his skin bubbling at the touch of the iron's hot core. Kai's screams were attracting some much needed police attention, the police drawing their guns. "Garmadon! What are you doing up there? Come down, now!" one officer shouted, pointing the pistol to the window. "Wait, that sounded like the recording of the lost boy in the phone call. We need backup and take the place down. Come on, get the radio and call. I've got my pistol with me." the other whispered as the first went over to the car and pulled on the radio wire. "Now, look what you did! Now, I have to go and kill two cops! Thanks a lot, you stupid boy!" Garmadon hissed, slamming the iron down on Kai's head. He turned and pulled a pistol of his own out and aimed at the first cop. "Duck! He's got a gun!" the second shouted, ducking behind the car. The first obeyed, shooting back at the window. "Backup! We need backup, now! This is unit forty-four, Ninjago County! We're in front of a house on Windstreak Block! The target has a gun and hostages! Send backup!" he shouted into the radio as Garmadon continued to fire on them. After a few minutes, seven more police cars pulled up to the situation, jumping at the sounds of Garmadon's raging bullet show. "How do you know he has hostages?" one officer asked the second. "I heard a scream and saw some smoke coming from the window." the officer said, his badge saying six on the end. "Okay, we need to get in there and take the place down. How many hostages do you think are in there?" four, the other officer, asked six. "I don't know. I only heard one scream, and it sounded like that boy that went missing four days ago. He might have all four." six said as Garmadon rained hell-fire down on them. Kai looked over at Zane, Cole and Jay, noting their painful positions. Zane's skin was starting to turn colors, blue, white, red, darker blue, whiter white, and now a super light blue. "He's getting frostbite." Jay said, his eyes opening slowly. "Good, you're awake. How's Cole doing?" Kai asked. Cole was lying still, maybe in too much pain to stay awake, but he opened his eyes at Kai's question. Suddenly, Garmadon ripped from the window, wrapped his hands around Cole's neck and yanked him to the window. "You will not shoot me or he dies first!" the angry killer shouted, holding the gun to the side of Cole's battered head. "What do you want with these young men?" four shouted back. "I want the pleasure of having someone to take my rage out on! You will not stop me!" Garmadon shouted angrily, pressing the gun farther into Cole's ear. "We can talk if you want. But you need to let us come up there and take the boys from your house, okay?" six asked, slowly bending down to place his gun on the ground. Garmadon lashed out and shot him in the back, bringing him down to the ground. Cole took a look up at his assailant and looked down at the broken window. He took a deep breath and flung himself through the hole in the window, bringing Garmadon down with him. They landed on the car below, breaking the windshield and alarming the car. The police moved in and ripped Garmadon off of Cole, locking his hands in handcuffs and slamming him into the back of a police car. Cole lay still on the top of the car, breathing steadily. Several more police officers moved in and gently got him down, placing him in the back of a much needed ambulance. "Get to the house and get the others out of there!" six shouted to four more officers. They ran up the stairs and pushed each other up to the attic where their eyes were met by shock. Kai was standing, his skin burned and charred. He was trying to pull Jay to his feet with no use. The officers moved in and pulled them from their chains, leading them downstairs and out to another ambulance. "Wait. There's one more. He's still up there. Go get Zane, go get him." Kai mumbled, his mouth dry as sandpaper. "Six, there's one more in there!" four called to six as he raced back over. "Where is he? What form of torture did Garmadon use on him?" six asked, turning to Jay. "Ice….bath...frozen….help..him." Jay wheezed out. Six grabbed a blanket and raced back up the stairs to the attic, slamming open the door to look for the bath. As he stepped on a small button on the floor, a small light lit up the room. An old wooden bathtub lay on the floor, overturned and wet with the ice on the floor. "Hello? Hello? Is anyone there? Uh, Zane? Zane, can you hear me?" six called into the dark corners of the room. He rounded the corner and spotted a little figure sitting on the floor. "Zane? It's alright, now. You can come out." six said, gently reaching out with his fingers. Suddenly, Zane whirled around and looked him square in the eye, causing him to jolt backwards and hold the blanket out in front of him. Zane continued to stare as he reached out for the blanket. His clothes were soaking wet as he flopped forward and collapsed onto his stomach. Six bent down and picked him up, wrapping the blanket around him to hold him steady. He ran back down the stairs and out the front door, right into the ambulance that was waiting for him. He put Zane in another officer's arms, watching as they pulled away with the three young boys along for the ride.

THE NEXT MORNING:

"Hello? Hello? Kai? Wake up!" Nya's voice called inside Kai's aching head. "Go away, Nya. I'm trying to sleep." Kai moaned back. "I brought you a frosted cupcake! Now wake up, stink-face!" Nya cursed, shaking Kai violently. "Nya, give Kai a break. He's been burned, you know. You don't know how unsettled his stomach is. Why don't you go get Kai some water?" Lilith's voice said. "Yeah, I'll get some coffee. Tell me when he wakes up, honey." Kaytake's voice cut through the silence of the room. Footsteps could be heard and a faint sneezing a table away. Finally, Kai opened his eyes. The hospital room was the first thing he saw: the bright lights, the TV, the table with the tools on it, the look on his mom's face, the waiting chairs outside the open door, and back to his mom's face. "Hey, mom." Kai said, his voice low and hoarse. "Hello, sweetie. How well did you rest?" she asked back. "I feel like I've gotten myself burned by the coffee maker again. But in the shoulder and the arms." Kai smiled. "Still have your father's sense of humor. Anyway, Nya went out and bought you a donut." she said, placing the donut on Kai's lap. "Awesome. How is Cole, Jay and Zane doing?" Kai asked, his mind going blank as he sank his teeth into his donut. "Well, Cole's got a few broken bones, Jay needed a full electric charge to wake up, and Zane...he's having trouble." Lilith said. "What kind of trouble?" Kai asked, reading his mother's face. "He's, well, half frozen. And the skin condition is permanent. You might want to see him for yourself. But later, when you've got enough energy." she said, his face slowly lighting back up. "Hey, mom? Am I going to be alright?" Kai asked, his voice weak and fragile. "Yes. They gave me a little ointment to put on the burns when you are ready to take off the bandages. They told me to tell you that once you take them off, you'll be in a lot of pain before the ointment can take care of that." she said, her smile slowly sinking back into her fallen face. "I want to look at them." Kai said, sitting up and pulling at the bandages. "Are you sure, Kai? They are very bad." Lilith asked, her face dropping to the floor in a look of distress. "I can handle this, mom. I'm stronger than that." Kai said, pulling off the bandages fully and staring at the horror on his arms and shoulders. The burns were charred but clean, yet they still burned with a pain like fire. Some were bubbled out at the skin while others were just small blisters ready to pop out and explode with an orange and yellow puss. "That's gross. Can you put the ointment on? These hurt like hell." Kai said, his shoulder beginning to sting at the blade. "Yes, but don't use that language with me, young man!" Lilith said, her serious face on for a second, then her bursting into a rage of laughter. She pulled out a bottle of stuff marked "Burn-Wound Ointment" and began to reach into it to pull out a blob. Kai bared his shoulders for the pain, but it never came. A light tingle and a breezy feeling of cold passed over him as the ointment dripped down his back. "Does it feel nice?" Lilith asked as Jay came into the room. "Jay! Are you feeling better?" Kai asked as Jay took a seat next to the bed. "Yeah, I feel pretty good. Cole's coming later and they're still trying to get Zane to come out from under the covers of his hospital bed. He is so embarrassed; he won't even come out for his dad to see him. They've got him on jello and popsicles and other cold stuff. They say his gut can't take anything warm right now, but maybe in a few weeks. How have you been?" Jay asked, his face funny and joking again. "I'm kind of okay, I mean, I'm not exactly unfazed or anything. But I hurt a lot. The burns are very hot and plump, if you know what I mean." Kai said back, his mom muttering to herself. "So, when's Cole coming?" Kai asked, breaking the silence. "He should be here in a minute. But you know, he's got a broken wrist, ribs, foot, nose, and a pretty bad bruise all over his midsection." Jay said as the door opened and Cole stepped inside. "Hey, Kai. How you feel?" Cole asked, his deep voice once again soothing Kai's burning back. "I'm good. But I hear that Zane isn't. Have you seen him yet?" Kai asked back, allowing Cole a few breaths before his answer. "Uh, I haven't gotten the chance to actually see him, but I think he'll come out when we're all there." Cole said. "So, you're pretty banged up, man. Are your ribs still out of place, or did they fix those?" Kai asked, his voice shaking. "They put them back. They also rearranged my wrist and foot so I could walk here. Are you good to come and see Zane, now?" Cole asked, his voice queasy. "Yeah, I'm good. Mom, I'll be back in a moment." Kai said, standing up and placing a shirt on. Cole was also bare-chested, his black chest hair and muscles showing off to the ladies. Kai followed Cole and Jay down the hall to the last room on the left, named "Number 13: Zane Julien". Cole gently pushed open the door and smiled at the small figure under the sheet. "I think he's sleeping." Jay whispered to Kai, making him smile. The three snuck into the room and stood next to the bed, smiling at each other. Zane's face wasn't showing, but you could still make out the part that was his head. Cole gently reached down and pulled the blanket from Zane's face, showing off a whitened, pale-faced Zane with closed eyes and a frosted breath. "Should we wake him up?" Kai whispered to Cole who shook his head. "He's only wearing a hospital gown again. Let him sleep, we can come back later." Cole said, looking down at the young Zane.

THE END


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